Dragon Age.

[Rub'Rum]

I got the game and I'm trying to avoid spoilers here, but holy crap, am I playing this game slowly or is it really monumentally long?

It says I have played about 30 hours, yet I only have about 21% completed and 35% of the world explored?

Jayzus! Well if I really do go over 100 hours I'll have to personally congratulate BioWare for making a game in this type that is actually worth the full price I paid for it, a rare feat these days. I mean, at that point, linearity or replayability becomes a non-issue, and it's usually one of my biggest gripes with games. If I spend 100 hours going through the game once, then discussing replayability doesn't really make sense.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

I finished the game at 50% completion aprox and 97% world explored.

 

[Rub'Rum]

I finished the game at 50% completion aprox and 97% world explored.

Ah that explains it, percentage completion includes the side quests then. Dang. Oh well, I'll still probably go in the 60-80 hours range it seems. Still better than the average. But now I may have to consider a second playthrough earlier than I thought to break even with the retail price, that second playthrough had better bring surprises.

Also is it me or Wynne is a really boring character, why make her the only healer? I guess stuff will come up soon... Still, my next game I'll have to rely on a crapload of potion making or give Morrigan some healing spells.

Current party is me (Tank), Wynne, Sten and Leliana.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

No, i made at least 75% of sidequest. I bet the completion precentage counts ACHIEVEMENTS.

 

[PhroX]

Also is it me or Wynne is a really boring character, why make her the only healer? I guess stuff will come up soon... Still, my next game I'll have to rely on a crapload of potion making or give Morrigan some healing spells.

Healing magic isn't really necessary. Except perhaps the basic spell, it's probably a waste of spells. Crowd control (Cone of Cold, Crushing Prison, Sleep, Paralysis Bomb etc) is far better, with Misdirection Hex and Forcefield for bosses. No need to heal if you're not taking damage in the first place.

 

[Fëanor]

i'm a cheap bastard that never buys potions so i found the ability to revive your mates in battle and to heal the whole party at once quite useful, especially in the last part of the game when the enemy often uses Curse of Mortality (and i did not have Dispel because until then i never had needed it).

 

[Captain2]

As someone who is apparently not far enough in the game I must ask, what is the curse of mortality?

 

[PhroX]

As someone who is apparently not far enough in the game I must ask, what is the curse of mortality?

A spell that does damage over time and prevents the target from being healed. Rather crap for you, but nasty if you let enemy mages cast it. 'Course, I find enemy mages rarely cast anything, but that's cos I make sure my mage has Mana Burst.

 

[Captain2]

ah, good to know as I'll probably end up running right into that swinging my +1 broadsword of stupidity

now that I have Shale as a potential party member I just don't know who to kick out.... I can't kick out Alistair because the guy is the only person in the game that has my sense of humour, Morrigan is now capable of swordfighting when her mana runs out so she's too useful and Ogryn does amusing things when drunk.

Why can't this game be more like KOTOR? I only had two characters I liked there.

 

[Harbringer]

I just bought it today. Will not have time to play until.....next freaking teusday. If its not good, Im hunting all of you down and killing you

edit:Got a fill, had two hours to kill. The combat sucks hard, not what I expected, but everything else seems fresh and neat.typical of most RPG's

 

[GoodSarmatian]

What's so sucky about the combat ? I like how it most of the time manages to be challenging without getting frustrating. Something very few games can pull off.
In my second playthrough it seems to be lot easier though. I wonder how much of it is the latest patch, balance (first playthrough rogue, now mage) or just me getting better.
The battle against the Ogre in the tower was really, really hard the first time. I just killed him on my third attempt with only Alastair left standing. The second time it was a cakewalk.
I've also defeated a Revenant on normal difficulty while on my first playthrough I always had to change it to easy.

 

[Harbringer]

Because its not combat, its a point and click adventure with variables. I like to actually be in control, even if the "control" is just aesthetic(like Oblivion). I also didn't think it was going to be this rigidly linear, which is a massive disappointment. Im starting to think that I shouldn't have bought it.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

Because its not combat, its a point and click adventure with variables. I like to actually be in control, even if the "control" is just aesthetic(like Oblivion). I also didn't think it was going to be this rigidly linear, which is a massive disappointment. Im starting to think that I shouldn't have bought it.

Im not sure where you got the impression that it is not linear, or about the combat.

Basicaly everyone said the combat was like in Kotor or Baldur's Gate. You pause, give orders, unpause, wait 1-5 seconds to see what happens, repeat.

 

[Fëanor]

Because its not combat, its a point and click adventure with variables. I like to actually be in control, even if the "control" is just aesthetic(like Oblivion). I also didn't think it was going to be this rigidly linear, which is a massive disappointment. Im starting to think that I shouldn't have bought it.

Having finished the game i can tell you that its only linear up to Lothering after that its not significantly more linear than Fallout, Baldur's Gate or any other great RPG's i can think of (and i can think of a bunch of RPG that are more linear than DA:O). Also, its a RPG, not a Action-RPG (like Oblivion) or a Role Playing Shooter (like Fallout 3) and IMHO it still has way too many Action-RPG elements in it, but hey they need to make money so they tried to appease as many people as possible by making a good RPG with enough action elements to keep people with short attention spans interested.

 

[Rub'Rum]

The beginning is scarily linear yeah, then it branches out significantly. It takes quite a few hours to reach that (5-10 I guess?). After that, while it branches out, any game you play you'll probably have to do the same things. Just, in a different order. The order you do them in has some level of importance and comes into play (i.e. reaching point X in the story with or without specific characters in your party makes the choices you have different). The character interactions are quite interesting and help making each game probably a little different, depending on who likes you and who you keep around. You get to do different things a bit.

As for the combat, well it's exactly as what everybody said. If you didn't like the prospect of Kotor or Baldur's Gate combat, then you only have yourself to blame for buying it. It's a game style that has its rightful place.

 

[Harbringer]

I still have a right to think the combat is lame?

I just don't like how it allows you to pause and everything is so coordinated, I find it more fun when you actually have to think on your toes, I mean, I could literally sit for hours and think of my next move, and it saps some of the games challenge when I can do that.

 

[Ozbenno]

I prefer the combat style for RPGs as you can have a think about what to do and strategize a bit, bit hard controlling 4 people on the fly (well for me anyway).

 

[Fëanor]

I still have a right to think the combat is lame?

RPG combat has been this way since the days it was on Pen and Paper, i'm not sure why you would even buy an RPG if you dislike a key element its gameplay.

I just don't like how it allows you to pause and everything is so coordinated, I find it more fun when you actually have to think on your toes, I mean, I could literally sit for hours and think of my next move, and it saps some of the games challenge when I can do that.

And what game does not allow you to pause? To my knowledge, outside of a couple of online games, all games allow you to pause and even Action-RPG's like Oblivion allow you to do/plan stuff like drinking potion while paused. Also, if you really dislike that, it can be easily fixed by not pausing the game.

 

[PhroX]

I still have a right to think the combat is lame?

I just don't like how it allows you to pause and everything is so coordinated, I find it more fun when you actually have to think on your toes, I mean, I could literally sit for hours and think of my next move, and it saps some of the games challenge when I can do that.

Umm....

If you don't like pausing it, then just don't pause it.

Not saying you can't dislike DA's combat in general, but it seems stupid to dislike it cos of something optional...

 

[LDiCesare]

I've only started the game so far (leaving Lothering), but I'm rather unimpressed for the moment.
The game has several flaws, and the story is very linear so far.

Story gripes:
I understand the story will get more open-ended. I still believe that the design of the opening scenes is poor. You really feel forced to follow one path. No choice, no semblance of a choice. I played the human noble origin, if that matters. Even the places (tower for instance) are linear.
The world seems full of history and stuff, but I can't help feel less immersion than in The Witcher which I just finished. Of course, I knew Geralt's books before playing, so the comparison may be unfair for DA:O. Still, getting into the world by reading walls of text doesn't suit me well. I think there must be a better way to get an introduction to the world.
I can't stand the bigots. Everyone and their brother talks about the Creator all the time, except for Morrigan. I already ended up dismissing all bigots from my group as they get on my nerves.
Of course all this is very subjective, and the game still feels interesting, with a nice challenge and the introduction does its work well.

Flaws:
The 'you can do this quest if you buy it' at the first camp. Ok, I'm not a cow to be milked. I bought the game, you could at least be halfway decent and not suspend disbelief by throwing me commercial stuff at the first opportunity.
Cameras. I don't like them. No way to see far. Moving to the sides of screen pans instead of a more intuitive (to me) rotation.
Text. This is a game that deaf persons will have trouble enjoying. Your party members chat together. If you play without sound, you can see text over their heads. Texts which tend to mingle with each other if you're lucky enough to actually see them. With the camera providing little view of where you're going in top-view, it's almost impossible to move around and see the chatter, let alone read it. Finding a way to put the text where it can actually be read would have been really nice.
Combat. Characters don't seem to have much in terms of zones of control. You can run to a character, start your attack and your opponent is gone before your move ended, despite staying there all along. The developpers could have implemented a charge option at the very least. Combat seems really unrealistic for me because of this. Movements which I can't believe can happen happen all the time in combat. Characters move around each other in a melee mess that I find unrealistic.
Movement. Ever hit 'H' by accident and met enemies alone on one end of the city? Running back to meet your party while telling them to come and help you proved to be a very fastidious experience. You really don't want to split up your group outside of tactical combat.

Overall, this is an interesting game, but contrary to The Witcher, I feel outside the world. The side quests so far stick out like they were added to the scene and don't blend in the world but seem artificial. I have reaally a hard time getting immersed into the game. I hope this will change, but it's not a game that will take a toll on my sleeping time, I'm afraid.